Memories #38-41

[bunny_ears]

Memory 38: First Patrol in Oregon
Form: strawberry tarts (1/2)
Basically, Vel goes out with Princess and Jackie Frost and teaches the criminal element of Protland they should fear women in bunny-eared headbands (and ball gowns. and ice skating outfits). She has a blast; this is her first active chance at superheroing as an adult and freelancer and she realizes how much it rocks.

Memory 39: Gossip with Jackie
Form: chocolate kiss (0/1)
Vel is on the phone with Jackie. She has just finished a date with Tag, and Jackie is getting the details. Jackie is more concerned with 'have you two exchanged super identities' than Vel's sex life, which Vel finds kind of funny. Vel had a good time... but something is nagging her about her past that came from talking to Tag.

Memory 40: Snooping on Action's Dude's practice
Form: small chocolate cookies (0/1)
Joy technically has seen this before (as it is part of a timeloop when she was 12-13). The previous memory was filled with 'panic about realizing she had done this before', while this one is watching her crush show off his super powers. She distracts him and they have an awkward conversation about their schedules.

Memory 41: Playing in Christmas village with her friends
Form: thin silver chain
Basically Vel and her team are visiting Santa who is giving them the Christmas vacation and playtime they never got as superheros:

After that night was over, none of them would ever quite agree on what the best part had been. Yelena loved the Northern Lights, which she was able to grab and twirl around her like gauzy scarves. Aaron liked playing snowball baseball with the elves, who didn't care if he occasionally blasted into a snowbank or lost control and went tumbling off into the sky. The Claw liked the icy water beneath the frozen ponds, where his lobster's skin kept him from getting cold. He could dance through the water like Yelena danced through the sky, and he didn't feel like a freak at all. Velveteen...

Velma liked the toys in Santa's Workshop. But most of all, she liked watching Yelena dance in the sky and the Claw dance in the water, and she liked the sound of Aaron laughing. She liked knowing that her friends, for once in their lives, were really happy. As she watched Yelena changing for bed, her own pajamas warm and comforting, she tried not to think too hard about what it meant that they had so little laughter in their lives. Maybe that was just part of being a hero. One more thing they didn't put in the brochure.